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LIFE'S BIGGEST 



>>> 



Ten Human 
Mysteries. 




By 



Rev. C Fr Wimberly, B. A., D. D. 



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Pentecostal Publishing Company, 
Louisville, Kentucky. 



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COPYRIGHTED FEBRUARY 1911 
BY 
PENTECOSTAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
LOUISVILLE, KY. 






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Q INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



There is nothing so mysterious as life; 
within the human body there are millions 
of things that no 'philosopher has ever 
been able to understand. Think of all 
the functions of the body whidh are 
purely human — yes, animal; yet they 
are united, entwined, and fused with the 
divine part — the eternal and immortal in 
us. The actions of either may be sep- 
arate, yet, both must suffer alike with the 
other. Actions entirely within the 
sphere of the human may bring eternal 
retribution to the soul; in like manner 
the body is often called upon to suffer 
from the conduct of things done in die 
realm of mind and spirit. The more we 
undertake the solution of ourselves — 
this human riddle — the more hopeless it 
becomes. The purpose of these pages, 
is to study some of the many difficult 
problems, that have given to us many 
sleepless nights and anxious days. We 



Four 

are all alike — strangely akin ; that which 
is a mystery to one — we mean of course 
such as are serious enough to think at all 
— the mystery for one is the same to an- 
other. We do not promise, that all of 
life's difficulties will be treated or ex- 
plained in this booklet; nor can we hope 
that, the reader may find satisfaction for 
life's perplexities by this brief discussion; 
but we trust that some light may come 
to die pathway of many who have felt, 
as the reader has felt — the inextricable 
meshes, so often hindering us in the long 
pilgrimage. We are all feeling in die 
dark — yea, we are children crying in 
the night. The heart yearns for light 
and peace, and we wish for this message 
a reception — in the same spirit which 
prompted its preparation. 



LIFE'S BIGGEST ? ? ? 



Life is a big question mark. The 
babe in th ecradle mutely tries to know 
and 1 understand the unknowable-— it 
reaches, looks and doubtless wonders. 
In childhood and youth the eternal mys- 
tery of things enlarge with the fleeting 
days ; as the skyline moves out, and the 
horizon, recedes in maturer years, the 
floodtide of Why, How, What and 
Whence, grows more complicated. 

At five thirty, one December evening, 
it being dark, a man stumbled from the 
factory gridiron, tired and depressed, 
just as the blazing lights from the super- 
intendent's auto dazzled his eyes, carry- 
ing that gentleman to a comfortable 
home in a distant part of the city. It 
was dark that morning as the human ma- 
chine -bolted his coarse breakfast, leav- 
ing the little ones asleep, and thus had 
been his life for more than ten years. 
As the superintendent's car swished 
around the corner, this lump of immor- 



Six 

tal substance, known as a man, but val- 
ued only as so many kilowatts, or dyna- 
mo power, remarked to a companion, 
'Why was I ever born? I've led noth- 
ing but a dog's life ; never had a day of 
real pleasure, since I can remember.' 
There you are, wihy is it? 

What this hopeless laborer felt that 
night has clutched millions of worthy 
hearts, since the race began its grim 
mardh from time to eternity. Many, oh, 
so many toil on, satisfied in their poverty 
and suffering, and never ask why. They 
see others favored and bountifully sup- 
plied, and are never disturbed over it; 
but all who can find time in their mad 
race and fight for bread, will surely feel 
the same pangs, this man felt. The man 
who lives — or ekes out an existence — 
knowing nothing but want from earliest 
recollections — sees his own child, poor- 
ly clad and underfed, cannot help but 
contrast this situation with the child of 
opulence, being rolled along the street 
in a baby carriage, costing as much as he 
had earned for a month. The one is 



Seven 

no more responsible for its lot than the 
other; but one must shamble from the 
cradle to the grave — fighting for every 
inch of ground — in a way, unwelcomed 
perchance at birth, and crowded to the 
wall, as it were all through life. The 
other is protected, loved, pushed to the 
front, given power and prestige from the 
start. No wonder, this father cries out : 
"Why was I ever born?" 

We are in a universe of phenomena, 
animate and inanimate, and the solving 
of problems, getting at the why, is the 
foundation of all mind development. 
Life's labors and anxieties are largely 
spent getting the whys, and he who can 
solve most of them becomes the wisest. 
Most of the tragedies of this planet grow 
out of men's inability to reach satisfac- 
tory conclusions. A beautiful young 
woman strolled through a city park the 
other day, was casually observed by the 
guard, whereupon, she walked to the 
boating lake, removed her hat and coat, 
and sprang into the icy waters. A note 
was found on her person which read : 



Eight 

'There was no use trying, this was the 
only way out. I played and lost. What 
of it?' She had been unable to solve 
the mystery of life; she got lost in the 
meshes. 

There are problems and problems, 
new and old; some as old as the race. 
Some of the oldest and most important 
remain still on the docket. A veil hangs 
before us ; in a thousand wonderful ways 
we are piercing the veil of mystery; but 
with many, oh, so many, it is "deep call- 
ing unto deep.' All we hear is the 
echo of our voice from out the darkness. 
They will remain until the Great Day. 

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We ask, therefore, first of all : Why 
are roe here? Is it by accident, in the 
great mechanical movements of the uni- 
verse; did we just happen; are we just 
an accidental spark struck from the fric- 
tion of time and things ; is life a haphaz- 
ard thing of chance? Or is it true we 
were in the infinite mind of God, He 
who foreknew and foresaw the end from 
the beginning? Does He real'ly know 



Nine 

and are we a part of His gigantic plan ; 
we that are only atoms — not comparable 
to a grain of sand in the Sahara, When 
the infinitude about us is considered. 

Not a few have apologized for any 
lapses, mistakes, or reckless living, be- 
cause, they say: 'I had nothing to do 
with being here; I did not fashion my 
own nature; I am what I am — not from 
my own choice. Some one is respon- 
sible for this life — just as it is. How 
can I help being dishonest, impure, and 
base in my nature. I am just as I found 
myself. I shall face my Creator with 
an indictment, more serious than He can 
dare bring against me. Why should I 
be punished for following inclinations 
born in me? I can no more help being 
what I am, than I can help being born 
in the world.' Who can say ought 
against this man's deduction? He has 
come face to face with one of life's grim 
mysteries. To those who are incapable 
of going beneath the surface, there is 
much hard truth in the proposition. 

No greater mystery than ourselves; 



Ten 

if we study the problem of self for a life- 
time, we will reach only to the border- 
land of an unexplored continent. 
"Know then, thyself, presume not God 

to scan, 
The greatest study for mankind is man.' 

Yet, we can fathom the mystery of 
God, just as easily as we can understand 
the mystery of our own being. Why 
are we here ? 

On the surface of things, there seems 
to be a gigantic blunder somewhere; 
however, we are here. It is useless to 
conjecture about what might have been 
otherwise ; the issue must be met. We 
are here with passions capable of loving, 
hating and feeling. What we do with 
this life — the interpretation we put upon 
it, makes for us in weal or woe. This 
much of the problem we have solved. 

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Second. Why is the moral universe 
so strangely adjusted? Good and evil 
are so mixed, that it is next to impossible 
to separate them. All the doors to 
wrong are either open, or the latch 



Eleven 

string hangs on the outside; it is easy 
to get an entrance into every forbidden 
garden ; the forbidden fruit hangs with- 
in easy reach — "take and eat," and wel- 
come. No bolts, no keys, no grim walls 
shut us out from things that are wrong. 
There is a wide-open door, and a press- 
ing welcome awaiting us at every cor- 
ner; a place, and an opportunity to in- 
dulge that side of our nature, which will 
inevitably debase and wreck. We are 
taught that God is the Creator of all 
things, and the moral governor of this 
universe ; yet, there is a strange twist in 
die arrangements of things conducive to 
good and evil. This situation is not the 
vision of a distorted brain; but a grim, 
terrible truth, and one that has caused 
many to stagger. 

Then, still more problematic; each 
wrong is followed by a penalty, yes, ex- 
treme penalty, "thou shalt not come 
from thence, until thou hast paid the ut- 
most farthing/ That is the reading of 
nature's inexorable laws. Help your- 
self, but remember the penalty. The 



Twelve 

physical and moral laws keep close tab 
on us and we must receive retribution for 
all the evil we do. 

Just as noticeable, on the odier hand, 
we find that doors to the best and the 
good are closely barred. He who sees 
an easy road to being and doing good, 
is ignorant of his own nature, and ob- 
servations of life as it acted out around 
us. Why is it so hard to get men to be re- 
ligious? Why does it require an eternal 
struggle to keep religious propaganda 
alive? If the agencies for good are 
equal to the evil, and even stronger, why 
do sin, luke-warmness and backslidings 
come easily and without effort, and why 
does righteousness require the most 
strenuous battle all the time? *I fight," 
says Paul. It is a warfare all the way, 
but Why is it? The figure Paul uses 
here to illustrate the Christian pro- 
gramme — suggests a fierce, powerful 
enemy. If one inspired as was this great 
Apostle, must contend with the "p° wers 
of the darkness of this world," then our 
proposition is sustained, as to something 



Thirteen 

being woefully wrong. All the fight- 
ing is on one side of the proposition. On 
the side of wrong — there is the toboggan 
slide — the visible and invisible currents 
— trade winds — eternal pulling toward 
that which is wrong. We repeat our 
question : Why is this moral universe so 
strangely adjusted? It is an age-did 
question, and there is yet to be born the 
philosopher who can answer satisfacto- 
rily. 

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Third. Why are the real, worth- 
while things so obscure? All the roads 
to wrong and evil may be traveled by 
the "five senses.' An easy, well beat- 
en path. No guide is necessary, no 
map or chart, no log book or compass. 
Sail in any direction and find that it will 
bring the craft upon the breakers. Near- 
ly all die battles, and most of the trag- 
edies of life come about through the av- 
enues of our natural senses. The glut- 
ton, the drunkard, the libertine, the fool- 
ish votaries of fashion — all become en- 
snared by the natural propensities of our 



Fourteen 

bodies. Hie child thrown on the world, 
as driftwood, without the barriers of 
home and education, ninety-nine times 
in a hundred, will soon be a slave to his 
passions. A law is discovered — fierce 
and powerful, and few if any, have will 
power enough to brook its demands. 
Even When environment is as good as it 
can be made — speaking comparatively 
— the same warfare goes on, and victory 
usually falls on the side of the animal. 
No trouble whatever, to lose out, drift, 
and wreck all that is high and holy in 
us — by simply following an impulse of 
the senses. 

On die other hand, we travel eternal- 
ly on the road "by faith," to get the 
things that make up real life, in its full- 
est and purest sense. 'The just shall 
live by faith.' It is always reaching 
into the dark, grappling with the invisi- 
ble. This is true, whether in mental, 
moral, or spiritual development. We 
must follow an invisible leader. If we 
depend on the things we see and taste, 
and handle and smell, and hear, the end 



Fifteen 

is uncertain, if not dangerous. Evil on 
every bulletin board; the good sought 
and found by faith. 

Now, if a great and beneficent ruler 
fashioned the machinery of this planet, 
Why are the worth-while things of life 
so hard to attain ? When we remember 
how few can see the Invisible — so few 
can walk, except by sight — the why of 
it, becomes harder to fathom. We can 
become schooled in evil — long before 
we can exercise any of the stronger pow- 
ers of our being. If it is a contest be- 
tween the good and evil — as to which 
shall be our master — then the evil has all 
the advantages; in other words: evil 
'beats the good to it.' This is a plain 
every-day fact; serious as we believe it 
to be — it is nevertheless true. Then 
why is it? 

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Fourth. Following naturally upon 
the above question, comes another — 
very similar; one that is merely a dif- 
ferent statement of the same proposition. 
Why is it so much easier to sin, than not 



Sixteen 

to sin? Sin is natural — righteous- 
ness seems to be unnatural. How many 
apologize for sinning on the ground, that 
it is natural, and cannot be helped. Any 
one who denies that this proposition is 
over-drawn, is not a student of facts or 
folks. Is all this an accident? Does 
it so happen that it is thus. Are we liv- 
ing in a world of chance — things just 
take their own course, and no power can 
prevent it being so ? 

We are brought back to another ques- 
tion — one we have noticed before : who 
allowed matters to take this awful and 
tragic turn? Did a loving Father have 
it to be so? He who cannot look with 
any degree of allowance upon sin; yet, 
here is a race of immortal beings opening 
their eyes in a strange world, knowing 
nothing of its nature or demands. The 
first dawn of reason finds us over-pow- 
ered by an internal warfare, with all the 
strength, delights, allurements, and 
charm on the side of the things, which 
are discovered by and by, to be evil, and 
to be followed by retribution and pun- 



Seventeen 

i^hment to the fullest extent. Does it 
not appear, that few are able to meet this 
strange inconsistency, and not revolt 
against sudi an organization — such a 
government of affairs? Must all who 
cannot fathom such dark, mysterious 
paradoxies — that is just what they are — 
paradoxies, if we view this from the 
standpoint of God as the only wise Cre- 
ator and preserver of all things, — be 
made to suffer for it? Where must the re- 
sponsibility be placed? Are the 1,500,- 
000,000 people living on the earth re- 
sponsible? No, shouts every voice of 
reason and justice. Is God responsible? 
No, dedlares the Scriptures. 'He 
tempts no man of evil/ Then, some 
wise philosopher please come forward 
and tell us why it is easier to Sin than 
NOT TO SIN. The fact remains, 
and every tired pilgrim — fighting to 
reach the skies, will agree that it is. But 
why is it? 

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Fifth. Why is the human heart so 
constituted, that it can never be satis- 



Eighteen 

fied? The heart is truly a bottomless 
pit; the plummet has never touched the 
place where room was lacking. The 
individual who lives only for sensuous 
enjoyment: the gratification of passion, 
an inordinate ambition, accumulation of 
weaith, seeking power, there is no end. 
Just what Alexander and Napoleon 
sought in world affairs, many Americans 
seek in piling up great fortunes. No 
man in Wall Street has yet withdrawn 
from the exchange announcing that he 
had all the money he wanted. Never! 
When we read in the Word, that 
there is a place, in the realm beyond, 
designated as a "bottomless pit,'" reason 
at once revolts: it is unscientific, unrea- 
sonable. But every human being car- 
ries the same thing — even within the 
breast. Railroads, more railroads, more 
steamship lines, more gold mines — more 
spacious quarters, more dainty food- 
stuffs, more purple and fine linen — more 
pleasure — more everything. The heart 
can literally hold all these things, and 
instead of filling up, enlarges the capac- 



Nineteen 

ity. A Wall Street magnet, worth 
$200,000,000, was known to refuse to 
pay for a shine of his shoes, or pay the 
little newsboy for a paper — just because 
he happened to own the property where 
these things were sold — and he just did 
not have to pay for them. If the eter- 
nal world is just what our Book tells us, 
the bottomless pit is the most reasonable 
thing imaginable. Think of carrying 
all our powers and passions over the 
''great divide,' ever to be hungering, 
gnawing, yearning — yet, never to be 
gratified — a sinking, bottomless pit. 

The same hunger is seen in acquiring 
higher and even holy things, the mind 
and soul can never be satisfied. The 
same hoping, yearning, longing, aspiring 
for something more. The saint ever 
looks forward to deeper and brighter ex- 
periences; the student delves deeper into 
the truths of the universe, but never 
leaves off an expectancy of greater dis- 
coveries. Something else yet to be real- 
ized ; it is coming, but not yet. Truly, 
we are pilgrims and strangers here; we 



Twenty 

dwell, as it were, in a wilderness with 
no abiding city; the eternal hunger is 
ever present — seeking "a city that hath 
foundation, whose builder and maker is 
God.' Why is it, we can never be sat- 
isfied? 

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Sixth. WTrp do those who seem to 
care least for their fellowmen, for the 
thing worth while, generally prosper? 
The sordid and selfish seem to have few 
if any worrries. Their eyes stand out in 
fatness, as David said; their feet never 
seem to slip while he, himself, was borne 
down with cares and troubles. Those 
who are fighting for moral reforms, the 
liquor traffic, white slave traffic, etc., 
must do in poverty. Millions are availa- 
ble for purposes that blight and destroy. 

Think of what might be done in lift- 
ing tihis sin-burdened world, if only the 
resources were available. Our nation 
will spend enough building one battle- 
ship, for the purpose of destroying hu- 
man life, which if it were used in evan- 
gelization, would more than double our 



Twenty-One 

force in the field. England spends 
enough trying to secure some South Af- 
rican diamonds to place a missionary, 
with a chapel in every nook and corner 
in the world. 

Those of us who are trying to lift the 
race, must do it in our poverty ; what we 
do must be divided from the bare neces- 
sities of life. Why is it, that the multi- 
millionaires never get a vision; why is 
it that the ones who see and feel so 
much of the world's tragedy, cannot 
prosper in the things, they might use so 
well. Looking helplessly on the scene 
of human wretchedness, the heart cries 
out : 

"O God!' 1 I cried, "why may I not for- 
get? 

These ha'lt and hurt in life's hard battle 
Throng me yet. 

Am I their keeper? Only I — to bear 

This constant burden of their grief and 
care? 

Why must I suffer for the other's sin? 

Would that my eyes had never opened 
been!" 



Twenty-Two 

That is exactly the way we feel, and 
Who has not felt it? Another strange 
fact in this connection, those who have 
been the world's greatest benefactors 
have been our greatest sufferers. Some- 
how the men and women who have spent 
themselves trying to lift the race, have 
been persecuted by the objects for whom 
they labored. Why is it? 

'Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong 
forever on the throne?" 

But human history gives but few ex- 
ceptions. The block, the rack, the gib- 
bet, the gallows, the stake, and the dun- 
geon have been die lot of those who 
sought to bless and save men. There is 
a tremendous twist in the affairs of this 
world.. Oh, a few exceptions may be 
found — where rewards came to living 
benefactors, but they are so few, writers, 
musicians, reformers, die usually unher- 
alded, and unsung. Why is it? 

Look for a moment at a survey of his- 
tory: Jehoikim on the throne, Jeremiah 
in a dungeon ; Herod on the throne, John 



Twenty-Three 

the Baptist in a dungeon ; Pilate on the 
throne, Jesus Christ a prisoner before 
him ; Nero on the throne, Paul a prisoner 
under a death sentence ; Caligula on the 
throne, Polycarp burning at a stake; a 
Medici on the throne, in league with 
Pope Alexander VI., and Savonarola 
hanging on a gallows; a Dauphin on the 
throne, Joan of Arc in flames; James 
the I. on the throne, John Bunyan in 
prison. Many, many similar examples 
might be mentioned. Why is all this? 

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Seventh. Why is there such a diver- 
sity of gifts and talents? Among the 
seething millions, only a few, very few, 
achieve success. Now and then, one 
will forge to the front, overcome obsta- 
cles, get above the crowd, and win the 
race. Even then it is only vanity; to- 
day they are, tomorrow, they are not. 
But, the ones who seem to be doomed to 
plod, and dig, and fail, and suffer, can 
be numbered by millions. 

Ninety-five men in every one hun- 
dred, are dependent upon charity at the 



Twenty-Four 

age of sixty-five; only two men in one 
hundred leave enough: to pay funeral ex- 
penses, with one year's rations for fam- 
ily. Only five in one hundred leave an 
estate of $1 ,000. Failure is written all 
over the face of the humanity. Some- 
thing has, or is killing the will power, the 
ability to succeed in life's battle. Why 
is strength of character so lacking among 
us. Manhood, womanhood, girlhood — 
so few of them — can stem the tide at all. 
They play and lose. If there is a des- 
tiny in the affairs of men, which, if taken 
at the flood, will lead on to fortune — 
why so few ever see it. They do not — 
it seems they can not; it is one long toil- 
some plodding from cradle to grave. 
Just a little spot of sunshine here and 
there — but mostly clouds. He who 
doubts this situation, does not know life 
as it is lived out before us. 

A few have no room wherein they can 
bestow their goods, while the multitude 
scramble daily for a bare living. Most 
of us are mediocre, and below; defeated 
in life's battle while in the cradle. Who 



Twenty-Five 

is to blame, when a child is born in a 
home where they breathe mental, moral, 
and physical filth; then turned out stunt- 
ed and dwarfed in body, mind and soul? 
That child fails, certainly, it sins, it fol- 
lows only the laws of life it knows. The 
anima'l ! While on earth, the state pun- 
ishes, and eternity awaits for her chance 
to mete out a just retribution — so say 
all. Another child comes upon the 
stage at the opposite side, given all the 
advantages, nourished and cherished, 
even before birth, preparatory to meet 
the battles of life. Why is it? 

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Eighth. We wish here to examine 
another tangle, so obvious among us: 
Why is it that those who seem to have 
no chance, get along, achieve, acquire in 
the things of life; and those who have 
every advantage make the poorest use of 
it ? Among the ones who do succeed — 
rise as scholars, musicians, statesmen, 
financiers — with but few exceptions, 
came from the mud-sill of society. 
Against all opposition, all odds, all ob- 



Tenty-Six 

stacles — in spite of fate, they push on- 
ward and upward. Many boys, back 
in the country school, with nothing but 
morsels of corn pone for a lunch, and 
with scarcely enough clothing to keep 
from freezing, get ahead of all die rest 
Who have plenty of good, wholesome 
food, warm clothing, and strangers to 
the pinch of poverty. 

A mountain girl, reared among moon- 
shiners, and bloody feud clans, , walks 
twenty miles to secure the first steps of 
an education; afterwards, gets into an 
institution of higher learning — winning 
har way in poverty and obscurity, until 
she attains a position in one of our larg- 
est universities. Behold, the thousands 
of girls from our so-called best homes, 
as parents beg them, hire them, urge 
them, spend money on them — trying to 
get diem to awake to the serious things of 
life, and fail utterly. All they want is 
to dress, dance, joy ride, flirt, eat, drink 
and be merry. 

Boys often come from homes of ab- 
ject poverty, but with the fires of ambi- 



Twenty-Seven 

tion burning in them. They launch out, 
and their fight is like striking a stone wall 
with naked fists — it is pain and suffering 
all the way. Their clothing is the 
cheapest — often purchased from second 
hand dealers. Inch by inch, they move 
to victory; little by little the chaos is 
thrown off, and they at last shine. The 
lily springs from the slimy, stagnant 
pool, and all the more beautiful because 
of that. 

Parallel with these miracles of pluck 
and grit, are to be found scores of boys, 
wasting and burning out their manhood 
in idleness and dissipation, whose parents 
are going to their limit, to inject purpose 
into them. Try as they may, it comes 
to naught; they are determined to be- 
come blockHheads and driftwood. But 
for the support of parents, would be 
tramps before they are grown. Some 
with no chance, no encouragement, no 
backing — get to the front; others with 
everything, do nothing at all. Here is 
a hard nut for the apostles of environ- 
ment to crack. 



Twenty-Eight 

We often see children in homes of ig- 
norance, where for generations, no cult- 
ure, was obtained, and of course, no en- 
couragement toward things intellectual. 
Yet, from such places, have come some 
of our brightest and most useful men and 
women. And some of the biggest igno- 
ramuses on earth have been born of cult- 
ured parents. Now, the why of these 
things. 

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Ninth. Why is the Universe so or- 
ganized, that things, animate and inani- 
mate, are enemies to the human race. 
The beasts of the field, either flee from 
his presence, or pounce upon him to de- 
stroy him. The elements prey upon 
him, and the weeds choke out his crops ; 
while the stinging insects blight and de- 
stroy them. Man finds himself in the 
midst of opposing forces which he must 
fight continually. His very existence 
depends upon it; his food comes from 
labor and swet, without a moment's re- 
spite. 



Twenty-Nine 

Tenth. If this 'life is so far insignifi- 
cant compared with die next ; if we are 
immortal, and the life to come outweighs 
this touching moral, spiritual, and eter- 
nal issues, why can we not see it more 
easily P Why all tlhis blindness, when so 
much is at stake? Men have no trouble 
in seeing the right side of material prop- 
ositions, but there is an appalling dull- 
ness, when the eternal interests of men 
are presented. 

The political booster has no trouble 
in getting his folks 'lined up. A con- 
vention for better hogs, better mules, 
better markets, at once arouse interest. 
Anything that will bring material re- 
sults, will get the fullest indorsement. If 
you plan to boom a town, open an oil 
well — old and young alike get in on the 
ground floor, as it were. We all know, 
these are just the fleeting things — today, 
may be enjoyed; tomorrow, pass 
away. But how hard it is to solicit co- 
operation in bringing about that which 
is believed to be the on'ly thing that will 
last — the eternal that is in us. 



Thirty 

Right here we wi^h to mention a start- 
ling fact. Men will fall in with here- 
sies, (half-truths, and false religions at 
once. They will fight for a false re- 
ligion, they will work harder for its pro- 
motion than will Christians who have 
the true faith. 

But to get men really saved, promote 
a genuine revival that will result in a 
work of regeneration — it is a tug, pull, 
pray and agonize. Why is this life so 
fascinating, charming, alluring and at 
the same time dangerous? But that is 
exactly the situation. The fact is, we 
find in human society, just what we find 
in the soil — weeds will grow — hot or 
cold, wet or dry, without cultivation. 
Our vegetables can only grow by the 
most careful cultivation and the season 
must be suited. Plant our gardens, let 
them take chances with the weeds, and 
the result will be just what we find in 
society, a choking out of all that is good. 
Wh\) is it? 

Who was the wise architect, that in 
the arrangement of our social organiza- 



Thirty-One 

tion, caused the best of things to be so 
obscured? Could it not have been the 
reverse ? Would it have been impossi- 
ble to have obscured the sordid material 
things, and made clear and available die 
things worth while? But we do not 
find it so ; unfortunate as it may be, we 
face the facts : The spiritual and eternal 
interests are obscure and hard to see, as 
compared with things that perish with the 
using. 

Other questions, equally important 
may be added; but these are sufficient, 
life is a question mark, it will always be 
so. There are, however, some answers. 
And they can only be found in the word 
of God; without it, the universe is an 
inextricable riddle. We are shut up to 
the one solution. 

1 . Is the fact of God, God just as 
He is revealed in His Book. No light 
comes from a "First Cause" sophistry; 
He must exist, in all His attributes, bear- 
ing the relation to the world, taught in 
the Bible. When it is all viewed from the 
orthodox standpoint, ithe mists begin to 



Thirty-Two 

rise. Any olher god does not meet the 
specifications. 

2. We find the answer in the Truth, 
as revealed in the Bible. This book is 
always consistent with itself. Human 
philosophy does not touch the riddle un- 
der consideration at all. If God, then 
He reveals Himself; the fact of God, 
and the Book cannot be separated. One 
is the center, and the other the circum- 
ference; disturb either, and the whole 
symmetry is destroyed. 

3. Still more light will come when 
we get the facts concerning the problem 
of evil. Not the evil of modernism, 
growing out of food, soil, environment, 
education, etc., but the problem of evil 
as delineated by the Book. Evil can- 
not be accounted for, on any other hy- 
pothesis. Satanic influences manifested 
everywhere in die race have but one pos- 
sible origin — the fallen archangel be- 
comes the prince of darkness, ruling in 
darkness, of this world. When we admit 
his existence, just as the Bible makes re- 



Thirty-Three 

cord, the whole question of life's difficul- 
ties and obstacles is made clear. 

4. Again, <the fact of moral respon- 
sibility with eternal issues: probation, 
character building based upon immortal- 
ity, gives us the why things are as they 
really appear. Then character build- 
ing must be on Bible lines and Bible 
methods ; all else being spurious. 

5. The Bible teaches 'that (the Spir- 
itual, Invisible and Eternal, are just as 
real as the material and visible. When 
this truth is rooted and grounded in our 
souls, just as the Bible declares, we then 
know why "'the just shall live by faith.' 

6. Then, we are also taught that 
Moral Responsibility ends with death. 
All the necessary power and equipment 
have been provided for character build- 
ing capable of meeting the issues of eter- 
nity. Our Book says, we are building 
for eternity, that we possess a life capa- 
ble of eternal joys or eternal miseries. 
All the issues of the world to come are 
predicted upon the conduct, growing 



Thirty-Four 

out of choice — free choice. We may 
travel all over the universe, hunt out all 
the systems of troth and philosophy, but 
we remain in darkness, impenetrable, 
and immovable, until we anchor our 
faith in the unadulterated teachings of 
God's Holy Book. With it, all is with- 
in our grasp; that is all we need to 
know, by and by, the mists will be clear- 
ed away, then we will know all. 

"Oh, what do you think of the road to- 
day? 
And it's what do you think of the 
road? 
Is it seamed with ruts, and steep all the 
way? 
Is the distance increasing your load? 
Do your footsteps 'lag as the miles un- 
fold? 
Does each effort conflict with your 
will? 
Ah, think of the scenes your eyes will 
behold 
When you come to the top of the 
hill." 



Thirty-Five 

The poet seems to have caught the 
vision of life's riddle : 

When in the dim beginning of the years, 
God mixed in man the raptures and the 

tears 
And scattered through his brain the star- 
ry stuff, 
He said, 'Behold! Yet this is not 

enough, 
For I must test his spirit to make sure 
That he can dare the vision and endure. 

1< I will withdraw my face, 
Veil me in shadow for a certain space, 
And leave behind only a broken clue, 
A crevice where the glory glimmers 

through, 
Some whisper from the sky, 
Some footprint in the road to track me 

by. 



<< 



I will leave man to make the fateful 



guess, 
Will leave him torn between the no and 
yes; 



Thirty-Six 

Leave him unresting till he rests in me, 
Drawn upward by the choice that makes 

him free — 
Leave him in tragic loneliness to choose, 
With all in life to win or all to lose.' 1 

THE END. 



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